[ORguitar]

Need help getting Mach 3 to ingore a tool change (M6) without editing the code to remove this.

I have ingore tool change activated under general configs.

[ger21]

If it's not ignoring them, then what is it doing? What message is displayed? What does the code look like? Exactly?

[ORguitar]

The machine stops, i have to hit the cycle start button to continue.

Here is the code.

%
O100
(MADDAX_CTRL CVR.NC)
( MACH 3 - ENGLISH)
(SAT. 01/26/2008 08:46AM)
( T1 ENDMILL ROUGH , DIAMETER = .125 , LENGTH = 5.)
N01 G20 G49 G54 G80 G90
(JOB 1 CONTOUR)
N02 M06 T1
(TOOL #1 0.1250 ENDMILL ROUGH)
N03 M03 S1497
N04 G00 G54 X-1.2323 Y.2456
N05 G43 H1 Z.1
N06 M08
N07 G01 Z-.11 F3.5936
N08 M98 P10 ( SUBPROGRAM CALL )
N09 G00 Z.1
N10 M05
N11 M09
N12 G49 G91 Z0.
N13 M30
%

O10 (SUBPROGRAM OF O100)
G03 X-1.2323 Y-.2456 I.9823 J-.2456 F5.9893
G01 X-.7323 Y-2.2456
G03 X1.2625 Y-2. I.9823 J.2456
G01 Y2.
G03 X-.7323 Y2.2456 I-1.0125 J0.
G01 X-1.2323 Y.2456
M99 ( SUBPROGRAM RETURN )

[LeeWay]

Some programs I use with a 1/4" mill drill. I do some drilling and some milling using Sheetcam. It tell Sheetcam they are different bits, so it spits out a tool change. However when I set Mach 3 to ignore the tool change, it runs the full program and stops back @ home when done. I have never had it ignore the ignore tool change setting.

[chazmtu]

ORguitar,

I don't use mach but turbocnc has something called marked blocks. Maybe mach does too. It does involve placing a slash as the first character in a block of code you want to ignore.
The catch is, it only ignores the code if toggle marked blocks is on. When off it reads the code like the slashes aren't there. Hope this helps.

[Switcher]

I'm not sure why you don't want to edit the g-code, I'm sure you have your reason.

One thing about editing the g-code, could you just comment out the "T1", etc...?

%
O100
(MADDAX_CTRL CVR.NC)
( MACH 3 - ENGLISH)
(SAT. 01/26/2008 08:46AM)
( T1 ENDMILL ROUGH , DIAMETER = .125 , LENGTH = 5.)
N01 G20 G49 G54 G80 G90
(JOB 1 CONTOUR)
N02 M06 T1 <--------- Change this, to this -----> N02 (M06 T1 Note to self I might want to change this back later)
(TOOL #1 0.1250 ENDMILL ROUGH)
N03 M03 S1497
N04 G00 G54 X-1.2323 Y.2456
N05 G43 H1 Z.1
N06 M08
N07 G01 Z-.11 F3.5936
N08 M98 P10 ( SUBPROGRAM CALL )
N09 G00 Z.1
N10 M05
N11 M09
N12 G49 G91 Z0.
N13 M30
%

O10 (SUBPROGRAM OF O100)
G03 X-1.2323 Y-.2456 I.9823 J-.2456 F5.9893
G01 X-.7323 Y-2.2456
G03 X1.2625 Y-2. I.9823 J.2456
G01 Y2.
G03 X-.7323 Y2.2456 I-1.0125 J0.
G01 X-1.2323 Y.2456
M99 ( SUBPROGRAM RETURN )

Another more involved route would be to modify the M6start &/or M6End macros. Instead of the code to change out a tool, you could maybe comment out the code in those macros & add something simple like some Dwell time (G04), just so you know that it's skipping the code for the tool change.

Click here & do a search for " M6Start ", You'll have to modify the macros yourself, like I said before just comment out the existing code in the macro, add a little Dwell time, write a small test program (g-code) by hand, run it, see how it goes, I don't recommend that you try cutting, No Spindle Speed, No Tool, No Part, Slow feed rates.

Or instead of commenting out all the code in the macros, copy the macros, & keep the original, change the original file name to something like M6start_SAVE, then rename the New file (the file with the dwell time)M6start, this will make it so that Mach3 selects the New (G04) file, because it won't have a clue or care about any file named M6start_SAVE, If the Dwell time thing won't work, just delete the file you created & rename the M6start_SAVE file back to M6start.

Hope I didn't lose you on that, it's really very simple & only a few mouse clicks, works great on large files. I do things like that all the time while working on vb.net projects.

Just remember, to always back up anything & everything.


.

[Switcher]

Did you already try this?

Edit:
I see you answered that in the 1st post .

.

[ger21]

What message is displayed?

Does it just say "hit cycle start" ? If you close Mach3, restart, change the setting in general config, close mach, restart. Does it work then? If not, I'd say uninstall and reinstall the latest version.

[ORguitar]

I'll give that a try, if it doesn't work, no big deal. I will edit the code as necessary. I just thought since Mach3 had this ignore toolchange option I would use it. My CAM software automatically generates tool changes in the code, I have no need for this since I am using a wood router with just 1 tool bit for the entire toolpath.

Thanks all for the input.

[LeeWay]

I use Sheetcam. If I use the same tool on all processes, it doesn't insert any tool changes. This coupled with the Mach 3 ignore switch lets me do things pretty much like I want to get optimal performance from the program.